Here it is, the Fourth of July, and you probably have a sizable quantity of meat ready for the grill, a vat of potato salad in the fridge and a small army of guests to feed and thirsts to slake.

Independence Day, with its high temps and long grilling sessions, demands beers that are both quaffable and affordable.

Affordable can be pretty key to the equation since you've probably been forced to invite brothers-in-law of questionable character and high alcohol tolerance.

Since you're going to be pairing beers with hot dogs and hamburgers and starchy sides, light and crisp is the order of the day.

An important tip for these little get-togethers is to stack your cooler properly. Good beer on the bottom, cheap stuff on the top. The brother-in-law will always go for the low-hanging fruit, or in this case, the stuff on top.

Your bottom layer should include the best stuff: Southern Star Bombshell Blonde and Pine Belt Pale, Oskar Blues Dale's Pale and Little Yella Pils, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Summerfest, and a new favorite of mine, North Coast's Scrimshaw Pils-ner.

Top that with a layer of good, moderately priced beers. Can't go wrong with Shiner products; the family pack will do nicely.

The top layer is easy: Dump in a sizable quantity of Lone Star if your crowd is hip to that, otherwise you may want to just go with the usual suspects.

Just make sure there's enough so that your brother-in-law doesn't make it down to the good stuff.

Beer notes

Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione will be hosting a show called “Brewed” on the Discovery Channel this fall. The show will focus on the very passionate Calagione's travels as he looks for new ideas for beers. Dogfish has long been on the cutting edge of rediscovering ancient beers and techniques, so this show should be educational and entertaining.

Zymurgy, the journal of the American Homebrewers Association, released the results of a poll that asked readers to rank their top 20 beers. Those results were published as a Top 50 list. Considerable shock was expressed that Fort Worth's Rahr & Sons Brewing placed 12 beers in that list. It's a reader poll that was almost certainly influenced by promotion from the brewery, but their beers are definitely worth checking out.